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Family Tree 101: Free On Zoom For 2022

BY DAGMAR FORS KARPPI

specialsections@antonmediagroup.com

If you have ever thought about researching your family history, but haven’t as yet, here’s your chance to do so with a free online course: “Your Family Tree: Helpful Hints to Trace Your Family History.”

The series is the idea of Glen Cove Public Library archivist and reference librarian Lydia Wen Rodgers. The Glen Cove library began its own Genealogy Club (limited to five members) on Jan. 24. Its success gave her the idea of joining with other local libraries to share the cost of a monthly Zoom series now through December. Each library is responsible for two episodes.

The first meeting was held on Feb. 19. Residents can sign in at participating local libraries including Bayville, Glen Cove, Gold Coast, Locust Valley and Oyster Bay-East Norwich. Subsequent meetings are on Tuesdays at 7 p.m.

Oyster Bay-East Norwich Library program Director Marion Dodson said they have six computers for patrons to use. “A lot of people use them for genealogy research, and when COVID-19 restrictions happened, people were disappointed. We offered them home access through 2019, but now it is only available at the library. No appointments are necessary.” Dodson added, “I sent away for my DNA results. There were no surprises.”

Locust Valley Program Director Michael Vinas said they were asked to join the group, sharing their financial resources. He said, “We thought it was a great outreach into the community.”

Gold Coast Library Program Coordinator Clare Trollo said of the series, “It is a privilege and a fantastic idea for the libraries to coordinate on programs for the benefit of the libraries and the public.”

Bayville Library Program Coordinator Kristy Fumante said on Feb. 7, “We have a very nice number of people registered for the program: 58 as of now.”

She said she has not looked into her family history, but her grandfather did, using records from the Oyster Bay Historical Society. “We are actually descendants of the Wright family of Oyster Bay: they are one of the founding families.” They are also connected to the Townsends.

“A Townsend married into the family and that is how we got that connection. At her dowry, Rachael received a sum of Wampum, an axe head, a feather bed and a cow.” [On a personal note: what was so exciting about being a substitute art teacher in the Oyster Bay-East Norwich schools. There, students’ last names included: Simcoe, Wright, Haxhurst, Hammond, Townsend, all names from the Colonial history of the hamlet. It made history come alive on local streets.]

The first speaker will be Grace Palmisano, training and digital resources specialist for the Nassau Library System. She has been researching her family tree for most of her life and has traced branches of her family back to the late 1600s (her six times great-grandparents). Palmisano is a descendant of persons living throughout Europe including Ireland, Hungary, Russia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

Most of the libraries have similar genealogy research tools available for their patrons. Check your library’s website for Niche Academy that teaches how to use digital library resources. It offers Ancestry Library Edition, with coverage of the United States and the United Kingdom, including census, vital, church, court and immigration records, as well as record collections from Canada and other areas. It also has Fold3 by Ancestry, which gives access to U.S. Military records from the American Revolution onwards; as well as The New York Heritage digital collection.

For more information you can call your local library: they have the names of all speakers for the series.

This is the first in a 12-part history series, provided by former Oyster Bay Enterprise Pilot editor, Dagmar Fors Karppi.

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Knitters Noted At Locust Valley Library

BY DAGMAR FORS KARPPI AND KASTURIE MILLER ROTH

editorial@antonmediagroup.com

Knitting is the focus of the current exhibit at the Locust Valley Library (LVL). Organized by Locust Valley Garden Club member Kassie Miller Roth, it features work done by the Valley Quilters and Knitters, as well as others. Miller Roth saw the work of the VQAK group and asked group leader Marie Lamarche to invite them to show their work in the library’s display case. LVL program director Michael Vinas told her, “It’s especially nice that we are featuring things made by the library’s club.” They usually coordinate with the exhibits, displaying books tied to them for patrons to borrow.

Additionally, staff member Lauren Wallach is teaching children to do cross stitch in a February and early March class. Wallach donated two handmade book marks to the display, saying, “I’m so happy to be part of the exhibit.”

The project started with Miller Roth visiting the homes of Marie Lemarche, Joan Jachetta and Rosalba Panetta Gable to pick up the items. “Rosa had a lovely high tea ready for us when we arrived. A talented woman, she showed us the lovely quilts, bags, and t-shirts she makes,” Miller Roth said. “They are all multi-talented women.”

Rosa donated her very first macrame project. She also made an elaborate woven Eye of God. The Ojo de Dios is made by weaving yarn, usually on a wooden cross. “It is to bring good luck,” Miller Roth said.

A large crocheted shawl made by Panettta Gable is wrapped around a doll for display, a la Project Runway.

Panetta Gable’s friend, Beth Sperry Sawyer, donated a child’s striped sweater and cap that turned out to be the star of the show.

Joan Jachetta contributed two pairs of colorful knitted slippers for tots. Jachetta started knitting while visiting relatives in California and Oregon. There she knitted shawls and hats for homeless veterans and continues to do so today here in Locust Valley. You can also see her small dolls hanging from a shelf for better visibility.

Marie Lamarche donated several crocheted hats; the pink crocheted tea cups; and a baby bottle tucked into a bootie. “They were made as presents to a new baby: the bottle was filled with money,” she said.

There are several knitting methods shown on one shelf, including some of Marcy Meyer’s knitting needles. There is an antique knitting spool, used to make chains for belts, etc. The pink

Kassie Miller Roth stands beside

the display case. (Photo by

Dagmar Fors Karppi)

hoop shown with blue wool is a round knitting loom that you can use to make a hat. Another gadget is for single needle knitting.

Dagmar Fors Karppi contributed two knitted throws made by her mother Ann Eleanor Johnson Fors. When leather was in short supply during World War II, her mother and aunts crocheted fancy pocketbooks out of

The knitted sweater and cap by Beth Sperry Sawyer and the Pink Pig by Marie Lemarche. The Eye of God by Rosalba Panetta Gable is on the top

shelf. (Photo by Kassie Miller Roth)

soutache. She made lots of knitted raglan sleeve sweaters, hats, mittens, slippers and shawls. “Best of all, mother made wonderful layettes for the family’s newborns knitted in the feather and fan design. I wish I still had her instructions for the lovely items”, she added.

Featured on the bottom row of the display is a little pink pig knitted by Marie Lemarche.

The LVQAK meet on Fridays from 1 to 3 p.m., in the Community Room. You are welcome to bring a project or come for inspiration. Lamarche will help get you started.

Contact President Dean Yoder at dyinteriors@yahoo.com if you are interested in learning about gardening and the LVGC.

DeRiggi-Whitton Meets With LIU Nursing Students

Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D – Glen Cove) met with LIU Nursing College students and their professor Dr. Holly Shaw, PhD, RN at the Glen Cove Senior Center on Wednesday, Feb. 15. The students visit the Center every Wednesday to interact with the senior citizen members.

DeRiggi-Whitton spoke with the students about how health-related and other policies are developed and enforced at the county level and the various committees she serves on, including being a Ranking member of the Health and Social Services committee. Just a few examples of health-focused initiatives by Nassau County that the legislator brought up were raising the minimum age to buy cigarettes from 18 to 21, imposing stricter regulations regarding plastics in the environment, banning Styrofoam and fracking wastewater from being used by municipalities to melt snow, policies that protect and programs that benefit senior citizens and even regulations for using umbrellas in the sun to protect against skin cancer.

DeRiggi-Whitton also discussed the concerning issue with hunger on Long Island and how proud she was that the county was able to give Long Island Cares $100,000 to help provide boxes of food to needy families.

Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (left) speaks with LIU Nursing College students about various health-related efforts in Nassau

County. (Photo credit: Peter M. Budraitis)

Some waited on line for more than two hours for the donations.

She also noted efforts to protect ground water, which is Long Island’s sole source of drinking water. Stricter monitoring of sewage treatment plant operations and fertilizer usage and content and over-watering that could lead to saltwater intrusion, making aquifers unusable for decades, even centuries, were a few items discussed.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for all professionals in the medical field not only because they provide the best treatment, but they also give from their hearts so selflessly to provide support for their patients that goes well above and beyond just doing their jobs,” DeRiggi-Whitton said. “These and all other nurses and nursing students show a level of devotion that is rare and so appreciated. God bless all of our caregivers, during the COVID-19 crisis and otherwise.” The legislator also commended the students for being so much more aware and informed about the need to protect our environment than had been the case with previous generations.

Feel free to contact Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton with any questions or comments at dderiggiwhitton@ nassaucountyny.gov or 516-571-6211.